1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Over-the-Range microwave oven, and particularly, to an Over-the-Range microwave oven having a flow passage structure preventing heat, steam and air containing cooking by-products generated from a cooking source of a gas range from being spread to the front of a cook.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, an Over-the-Range (OTR) microwave oven is one of electric home appliances, which is installed on a wall surface of an upper space portion of a gas range installed in the kitchen, so as to be used to cook using microwave in a cavity and to suck/exhaust combustion gas and pollution air in the kitchen (i.e., performing a ventilation function) generated from the gas range installed under the OTR microwave oven using a blower installed therein.
FIG. 1 shows a typical type of the conventional OTR microwave oven, which will now be described as follows.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the conventional OTR microwave oven 100, a cavity 1 for cooking by microwave energy and an electric equipment chamber 2 having a magnetron 3 for generating microwave energy therein are provided inside an outer casing 4, exhaust passages 5 are provided at the inside of the outer casing 4, that is, at one side of the cavity 1 and at one side of the electric equipment chamber 2, respectively, and a blower 6 is installed at an upper rear side of the outer casing 4.
A rotary tray (not shown) is rotatably installed inside the cavity 1 so as to rotate food received in the cavity 1.
An air suction port 7 communicating with the exhaust passage 5 is positioned at a lower side of the outer casing 4, and an air discharge port 8 for discharging air to the outside is formed on an upper surface of the outer casing 4. Here, according to user convenience, the air discharge port 8 is connected to a ventilating duct of a building and the like through a connection duct 8, or communicates with a plurality of discharge ports 11 formed on the entire upper surface of the outer casing 4.
In addition, a door 12 is installed at a front surface of the outer casing 4 in order to take food in or take it out of the cavity 1. Meanwhile, reference numeral 13 denotes a high voltage generator for supplying a high voltage to the magnetron 3.
The conventional OTR microwave oven having such a construction is installed above a gas range 200, and performs a hood function for ventilating smoke or smell generated when a user cooks using the gas range 200 as well as the original function of the microwave oven 200.
Hereinafter, an operation of the conventional ORT microwave oven will be described in brief.
First, the user opens the door 12 and puts food on the rotary tray in the cavity 1. The user then closes the door 12 and pushes an operation button of an operation panel (not shown). The rotary tray is rotated to thereby rotate the food thereon. At the same time, microwave is generated from the magnetron 3 and is induced into the cavity 1, such that the original function of the microwave oven, that is, cooking the food by the microwave energy, is performed.
In addition, when the user pushes a hood operation button on the operation panel, the blower 6 installed in the OTR microwave oven 100 is driven so as to generate a suction force, by which combustion gas and pollution air generated when the user cooks using the gas range installed under the microwave oven, in a direction indicated by an arrow of dotted line in FIG. 2, are sucked through the air suction port 7 formed at a lower surface of the outer casing 4. The sucked air is exhausted to the outside via the exhaust passages 5 through the air discharge port 8 formed at an upper surface of the outer casing 4, whereby the conventional OTR microwave oven serves as the hood for ventilating smoke or smell.
However, since the conventional OTR microwave oven has a structurally narrow air suction port 7 formed on the outer casing 4 and, as shown in FIG. 2, the air sucked by the air suction port 7 is exhausted to the outside through the right and left exhaust passages 5, the conventional OTR microwave oven has a structurally great fluid resistance. Accordingly, since the amount of air being sucked from the air suction port 7 is small, heat, steam and air including cooking by-products generated from a cooking source of the gas range 200 cannot be efficiently sucked through the air suction port 7. As a result, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the air which is not sucked through the air suction port 7 is spread to the front where a cook exists and directly reaches the cook, thereby causing the cook to feel unpleasant.
Accordingly, the conventional ORT microwave oven cannot maintain a pleasant environment for cooking in a kitchen, thereby deteriorating product reliability and competitiveness.